JENNIFER LABRECQUE - Barely Behaving

“Then how about the grand tour?” Without waiting for an answer, he started. “To your left is the former dining room, now known as the workout room.” She chuckled at his very guylike grin. “To your right is the den. The one-eared tabby on the back of the sofa is Tex. The orange cat peering between the boxes is Lolita.” When she heard her name, the marmalade cat limped from her hiding spot and leaped to the sofa to join Tex—pretty agile for a cat with only three legs.

“Hi, Tex. Hi, Lolita.” Tex returned her greeting with a basilisk stare and Lolita yawned daintily. They were the most pathetic-looking cats she’d ever seen. Niall Fortson seemed to have a soft spot for rejects.

“They stay indoors, so they won’t rush your yard the way Gigi did,” he explained with a smile as he ushered her down the hall to a doorway at the end. His fingers rested lightly against the small of her back and awareness whispered along her nerve endings. “Prepare yourself.” He looked at her with a hint of consternation. “Too bad you don’t have any shades with you.” He threw open the door. “Behold the kitchen.”

Beautiful sunny walls embraced turquoise countertops and appliances. It reminded her of a Mexican plaza on a warm afternoon. “Awesome. I love it.”

“You do?” His expression verged on comical. Obviously that wasn’t his take.

“Of course. How could anyone ever be depressed in such a great room?” She couldn’t frown in this room even if she wanted to. “Doesn’t it make you want to smile when you walk in?”

“Uh…” Apparently not.

Tammy pressed on, caught up in the room’s potential. “Some orange—well, really more like tangerine—curtains with the yellow and turquoise in them would tie everything together. Maybe toss in a splash of lime green. Funky but fun, in a happy kind of way.”

If that didn’t scare the bejezus out of him, nothing would. Men freaked when women made suggestions about their space, place or person. Jerry had nearly lost his mind when she’d vetoed hanging a mounted deer head in their bedroom—like she wanted a dead Bambi eyeballing her when she was trying to sleep or do other things. Niall looked a tad bemused, much like when he’d seen her naked earlier. “Orange?”

“Hmm. Tangerine. Trust me. I’ve been into this decorating thing lately.” She’d had a blast with her own house, discovering a sense of style she never knew she possessed.

“Okay. I can use all the help I can get.” He looked around the room, as if he could actually see it taking on a new appeal. “Funky but fun.”

Tammy leaned against the counter and laughed. “You’ve never done funky before?”

Niall ran a hand over his hair which did nothing to smooth it down. “No. But I wouldn’t mind giving it a try. I wanted a fresh start.” He glanced at the turquoise refrigerator and shook his head. “It’s definitely funky compared to matching cherry cabinetry.”

“It sounds hideously traditional and conservative.” Tammy would take the wild, bold beauty of this room over matching cherry any day.

Niall laughed. “I wouldn’t call it hideous, but it was conservative, except for the price tag. I’ll try to remember tangerine with yellow and turquoise.”

“Just go into Bergman’s and look a little lost. Women will fall all over themselves to help you.”

“I can certainly manage to look lost. That won’t be a problem. I’m not sure about the falling all over themselves business.” On some men, the modesty would’ve been calculated. Niall actually seemed clueless that the single women of Colthersville would be on him like white on rice.

“Trust me on this. I’m sure and I’m a woman.”

“I noticed.” The husky note in his voice and the look in his eyes trailed heat through her.

Awareness arced between them. She eased her tongue along her dry bottom lip and he clenched his jaw. A whine and a scratch at the back door eased the tension of a man and a woman in close quarters and brought them back to two neighbors chatting in the kitchen. Niall opened the door.

“I know where the clinic is, but other than that I’m clueless. What and where is Bergman’s?” he asked as the Big Dog lumbered in and ambled over to sniff Tammy.

Time for her to go. She didn’t trust Big Dog with his crotch-sniffing and enormous jaws. No one could ever accuse Niall of being a shallow pet owner—he hadn’t chosen his animals based on beauty, that was for sure.

She headed back down the hall toward the front door. “It’s the local everything store. Just watch out for Henrietta Williams, the owner. She’s a woman with a mission—finding a husband for her daughter Candy.”

Niall followed, his masculine scent of soap and deodorant teasing her from behind. “And what would be so bad about that?”

He had to ask? “You could wake up and find yourself married before you knew what hit you.”

He reached around her, close enough that she felt his body heat, and opened the door for her. “I’m ready to settle down.”

Tammy stepped out onto the porch, away from temptation. He was sexy, single…and looking to get married?

What a shame.

NIALL TOOK the long way to Tammy’s via the sidewalk rather than across the yard. Despite the warmth of the day, the temperature had plummeted when the sun disappeared. Between the crisp air and the colorful Christmas decorations on the houses, it felt and looked like late November.

Multicolored lights blinked on a Christmas tree in Tammy’s front window. A plastic nativity set glowed on her front lawn. He wasn’t sure whether he was the luckiest or the unluckiest sod in the world to be living next door to Tammy Cooper. She was sexy, flirty and simply being around her threw him seriously off balance. Niall didn’t do off-kilter. He expected things to be a certain way and they usually were.

His stomach rumbled as he knocked on the front door. He was starving. A fast-food lunch snagged from a drive-thru along the way had been a long time ago. He’d accept a meal from Genghis Khan.

Tammy opened the door with a smile that did dangerous things to his pulse.

“Hi, come on in.”

She looked and smelled a whole lot better than Genghis. She’d changed into a black shirt and pants that hugged her feminine curves. Bracelets encircled half the length between her wrist and forearm. Her scent, an exotic blend of spices, tantalized him. A harem girl fantasy popped into his tired, overwrought brain and refused to budge. Her wearing only those bracelets and a bunch of veils. Smooth gold skin. Navel ring. Her exotic fragrance.

Niall stepped inside and her arm brushed against his. Heat sizzled though him at the brief contact. What kind of heat would an intentional caress generate? Maybe he was simply tired and hungry but she blew his composure to hell. He turned to face her as she closed the door behind him. “I brought a six-pack of beer. Unfortunately, it’s warm, but I didn’t want to show up empty-handed.”

She took the package. “You didn’t have to do that, but thanks.”

Niall looked around the room, convinced that was a better plan than gawking at her.

If his kitchen was happy, her house was nearly ecstatic. From outside, it looked like the other neighborhood houses, but inside it was bright and bold. Yellow-gold walls and furniture in a mix of reds, purples and bright blues created a room that was comfortable and inviting without being fussy. “This is great.”

For a moment he glimpsed something akin to insecurity in her eyes—as if she’d been nervous about his response to her house. Quick as a flash it was gone and she smiled, obviously pleased by his response. “Yeah. I like it. Sort of vintage meets eclectic. I’m still working on it, but it’s been fun. That’s one of the great things about living alone. You only have to please yourself.” She arched her brow. “I bet Mia never let you keep your workout equipment in the dining room.”